Nonprofits serving the Village of Milan can now apply for up to $10,000 in grant awards

Grant applications are now being accepted by the Grant W. Brissman and Virginia M. Brissman Foundation, a private foundation managed by the Quad Cities Community Foundation.

Nonprofit organizations located within and serving residents of the Village of Milan, Illinois, are eligible to apply for up to $10,000. Organizations located outside of the Village of Milan may also apply if their applications demonstrate specific benefits to the Village of Milan and its residents.

The Brissman Foundation was established to improve the quality of life in Milan by funding work to enhance youth development, foster community development, support cultural activities, and invest in ways to relieve the suffering of underprivileged people.

New this year, the foundation will consider grant applications once per year, in the fall. Applications became available on August 15, 2016 online here and will continue to be accepted through October 1. Decisions will be announced by late November.

Grant Brissman was a graduate of Rock Island High School. He was a pioneer Milan business owner, starting Brissman's Auto Supply in 1948. The business served Milan and the surrounding communities for almost 30 years before he retired in 1978. His wife Virginia Brissman worked for Illinois Bell Telephone Company for 40 years before retiring in 1977.

The couple had been married for 60 years when Grant died at age 88 in 2004. Virginia died at the age of 94. The foundation was established through their estates and the Community Foundation provides administrative and grant-making services for the Brissman Foundation.